Writing

> Sheri_k

Flogging Babel: Everything That's Wrong With Your Story. Last weekend, at Balticon, I got into a discussion with Connie Willis about teaching new writers.

She told of the time she addressed a group of such and said, "I'm going to tell you everything that's wrong with your stories.
" They all eagerly began pulling out typescripts. But Connie stopped them, saying, "No, I don't need to see them. Because you all make the same mistakes.
" And proceeded to run down the list of Universal Newbie Mistakes. Then Connie laughed and said, "Boy, I never did that again.
" We didn't discuss what those mistakes were, because anybody with experience teaching already knows. 1. 2. Poul Anderson observed that three evocations of the senses are sufficient to make any scene vivid.
The Hero’s Journey: Storytelling in the Language Arts Classroom. By Jennifer Munro For many years, I had the privilege of teaching eighth grade English in a school in Connecticut where the curriculum was based on Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth – and it was stirring, important stuff.

We were teaching kids about life, the realities of the human condition, and the need to discover the person we were truly meant to be.
5 ways to gamify writing in the classroom. Believe it or not, writing is a natural fit for gamification techniques.

The Beginner's Guide to Planning and Writing a Memoir. How to Publish a Book on Amazon – The Writer's Circle. No, we’re not talking about reselling a book you’ve just read we’re talking about actually going through Amazon to publish your own pages without the daunting prospect of agents, publishers, and pitches.

For writers looking to sell their books in a simpler way, Amazon’s independent publishing options are the perfect solution. First, you’ll want to pick your platform. Amazon offers a few different options when it comes to publishing via Kindle, print, or audio. Royalties are different depending on which you select, and each goes through a different system (Kindle Direct Publishing for the Kindle, CreateSpace for print, and ACX for audio. Self-publishers, listen up we’ve got all the details below! // <! Kindle. Then, you’ll choose pricing and check out some optional KDP Select benefits. Print. When you set the price, Amazon will let you know a minimum price that it needs to be to cover book-printing costs (depends on the size of the book). Audio.

Top 10 Grammar Myths. Page 1 of 2 March 4 is National Grammar Day, so I have a special top-10 show to celebrate the occasion, and before you argue with me, read the whole explanation about why each of these is a myth.

Grammar Girl's Top 10 Language Myths: 10.
Write a Plot Outline: Infographic. Learning how to write a plot outline is an essential skill if you want to become a prolific author.

Whether you find the distant target of reaching a substantial word length or the creation of a satisfying, forward-moving plot daunting, if you write a plot outline for your novel in advance you will have a blueprint that you can alter if necessary as you go. Our previous post on the subject suggested 7 ways you can outline your novel. We’ve since converted this information into the handy infographic below. Save it, pin it, or share it with writers you know who could benefit from having a clear structure in place before they begin writing their first drafts. Click image to view full size Once you have your outline written, the matter of writing your first draft remains.
4 Free, On-Demand Writing Webinars – The Writer's Circle. The word free has a nice ring to it, especially when writers are involved.

While there are an inexhaustible number of workshops, retreats and conferences targeting authors and budding writers, most will do a number on your wallet. If you're not in a position to fork over a couple hundred dollars, you may feel there are no resources available to you. Fortunately, that's not the case. One of the best ways for writers to self-educate (without leaving the house) is through webinars. As the name implies, a webinar is a sort of seminar held online, usually some cross between a slide show and audio presentation. We've scoured the Internet for the best free webinars aimed at writers, and below we've compiled a list of our favorites.
Writing And Editing Fiction: 7 Things To Fix In Your First Self-Edit.

Writing a book is a process and it can be broken down into parts.

There’s the idea gathering and then creative outpouring of the first draft when you can banish critical voice. But then the editing begins, and the first step is self-editing, a crucial part of the process that will also help you save time and money with a professional edit in the next round. Today’s article is from Tania at New York Book Editors, who provide professional editing for independent authors. Even if you’re going to be working with a professional editor down the line, it’s always a good idea to take a crack at it on your own first. That way, you ensure your editor is helping you with problems you couldn’t have fixed yourself.
Writing an Essay? Don't Commit these Internet Research Crimes!

Hasn’t the Internet made our lives easy?

To find sources for an essay you need only to turn on your laptop and a plethora of information about almost every imaginable topic will find its way to your fingertips. But even though obtaining information has become easy, finding quality information is more difficult than ever. The truth is that anybody can mock up a website and press “publish.” That’s why it is so important to seek out only the most accurate sources when incorporating research into an essay or other piece of work. Here’s how: Check the reliability of your sources. First, try to avoid pulling information from personal blogs or spammy pages with multiple applets flashing on them. Is the author a well-known figure? If the answers leave you unsatisfied, ignore the source and move on. Take cues from the domain. .edu = education.org = organization.gov = government.net = network.com = commercial The type of domain can give you an idea of whether a website is biased or not.

Straight From The Editor’s Mouth: The Verdict On Ending Sentences With Prepositions – The Writer's Circle. Straight From The Editor’s Mouth: The Verdict On Ending Sentences With Prepositions – The Writer's Circle. 7 Pieces Of Advice For Submitting To Literary Journals And Magazines – The Writer's Circle. Getting a piece of writing published online is easy — all you need is an Internet connection and there's an endless amount of places to put your words.

Getting a piece of writing published in a literary magazine or journal, however, is quite the opposite. So… why go through all the trouble? Literary magazines and journals offer a big audience of readers — as well as agents, publishers, editors, and other people in the industry.
What Makes A Sentence Beautiful?
Sometimes, whether buried in a block of lengthy prose or a brief poem, a sentence can be a thing of true beauty.